- Horizon Worlds is Meta's social VR platform for exploring, playing, and creating your own worlds.
- 18+ access to Quest, with country expansion and security tools.
- Editor with blocks of script, templates and library to build without programming.
- Moderation with recording under report, invisible observer and community guides.
Since Meta opened the doors of its social platform virtual reality, the idea of meeting friends in digital worlds is no longer science fiction. Access was enabled in Spain and France in August 2022, after debuting in the United States and Canada, and that marked the beginning of a broader rollout of Horizon Worlds as a social space in VR where to explore, play and create.
You may remember its original name, Facebook Horizons; with the company's rebranding, you'll now find it as Horizon Worlds. Throughout its development, there have been closed betas, a gradual rollout by country, and an increasingly active community that organizes everything from comedy shows to movie sessions. In this context, a clear guide with Getting started, creation tools, and security keys to move with ease.
What is Meta Horizon Worlds
Horizon Worlds is a virtual reality social platform where you can navigate through multiple worlds, participate in minigames, and build your own spaces. It functions as a large, ever-growing hub, with stylized avatars and social mechanics designed to make chatting, playing, and collaborating feel natural even when everyone is at home.
It was born as an evolution of the company's previous social experiments, with the ambition of becoming a key player in the future metaverse. This translates into a community-centric approach: Users themselves create worlds, objects and interactions, and the platform provides you with tools to bring ideas to life without having to be an expert programmer.
During its early stages, Meta ran a closed beta with non-disclosure agreements and shared details in dribs and drabs. Over time, the ecosystem has matured with build contests, resource libraries, and recurring social events that give life to the whole.
One of the project's strengths is its social sandbox nature: there's no overarching story or rigid rules; instead, you're encouraged to explore, connect, and create. It's, in essence, a social network multiplayer in VR, the spiritual equivalent of phenomena such as Second Life or Habbo in their day, but designed for current virtual reality headsets.
Availability, countries and access
Horizon Worlds' arrival came in phases: at the end of 2021 it opened to those over 18 in the United States and Canada, and in August 2022, access was extended to Spain and France.. It was also activated in the United Kingdom shortly before. The application is free for Meta Quest viewers and the initial configuration has been, in part, in English, although the platform continues to be localized.
To log in, the system has required accounts from the Meta family (historically Facebook/Oculus). This integration makes it easier to manage identities and friends, although the public identity in Horizon uses the VR avatar profile and not your real nameAs is often the case in social settings, moderation and safety tools are built in from the ground up.
In its early iterations, social sessions allowed for meetings of up to eight people, and over time, spaces and events with larger capacity have become increasingly common, with examples of groups reaching up to twenty users. These figures help us understand the social scale, although each world or experience may have specific technical limits.
According to figures shared internally and reported by the media, after the initial opening in North America the monthly user base grew to around 300.000 people in Worlds and Venues in an early period of deployment. In addition to the influx, it was reported that there were already thousands of worlds created by the community and a very active group of creators.
Getting Started: Avatar, Controls, and Menus
Before you dive in, it's time to create your avatar. The editor lets you choose body style, skin tones, facial features, hair, and clothing, all with a distinctive cartoonish look. At this stage, the focus is practical and expressive: avatars show expressions and animations linked to gestures, such as thumbs up or down, which makes nonverbal communication very intuitive.
A striking design detail is that the visible avatars are centered on the torso upwards. This choice simplifies the representation and locomotion without losing personality. Although the customization catalog was limited in the beta, the base is broad enough to convey identity and humor while you talk, move, or pose for a photo with friends.
On your wrists you'll find the core of the interface: a quick menu with key options. From there you can mute yourself, activate a private space or open the main panel to see online friends, featured worlds, and ongoing events. You even have a virtual camera to capture photos from within the world.
- Mute: Turn off your microphone; your avatar will speak silently and others won't hear you.
- Safety space: creates a temporary private bubble; no one sees or hears you, and neither do you hear anyone else.
- Navigation menu: Check friends, worlds, and events; adjust locomotion/rotation; and open the camera.
With your avatar ready, you'll navigate through hubs and portals using "telepods" or menus. You'll bump into other people in public areas and can "party up" to jump between worlds together. In practice, all you need to do is Select the portal and confirm “Visit World” to load the chosen destination.
Explore: The Plaza and Featured Worlds
The Plaza (Plaza) is the perfect meeting point for your first visits. There you'll find signs with basic rules for coexistence, explanations of group teleportation, and access to portals to recommended experiences. It's also often the place where Community Guides patrol, support figures responsible for resolving doubts and ensuring coexistence.
If you're traveling in a group and want to travel together, you'll see simple dynamics to synchronize the jump: for example, joining the avatars' hands in the center before crossing a portal. These are small social rituals that, although simple, reinforce the feeling of be coordinated within the same space.
From the main menu, you can check out the Worlds section to see community creations. There are action-packed experiences, cooperative puzzles, obstacle courses, and spaces for simple hanging out. Many come from established creators who take advantage of scripting and design systems. to offer mini-games and challenges.
Among the worlds that have caught the attention of the community, several examples stand out for their variety and focus of play:
Deep Sleep, by Liam McKill
Set in a science fiction environment, you wake up from hypersleep in the middle of space with no memory of anything. Your mission is to restore power to the ship and discover what went wrong. It combines exploration, atmosphere and narrative tension with goal resolution.
Jungle Adventure by Clint Ferguson
A classic action-packed jungle adventure, with dangers around every corner and a hidden temple as your goal. Ideal if you're looking for a direct and varied challenge, alone or with friends. platforms and skill tests.
Alien Catacombs by Micah Allen
A fantastic obstacle course through alien catacombs. Grab a sword and set out to overcome the course: balance, timing, and perseverance will help you advance through a treacherous map of well-measured jumps and traps.
Sunny's Place by Sunny Ammerman
An idealized apartment made for hanging out, chatting, and enjoying a curated aesthetic. An example of how a social world doesn't have to be a game, but a cozy space for conversation and show your personal touch.
create your own world
Horizon Worlds wouldn't be what it is without its construction tools. From "Create" mode, you can create environments, place objects, add sounds, and—most powerfully—link logic with "script blocks." These blocks function as a visual system: rules and events are linked together so that, for example, a gun fires when the trigger is pulled, a ball bounces or a scoreboard is updated after each game.
Meta explained that this scripting is reminiscent of working in layers, where you add and connect behaviors to build complex interactions. For now, editing is done entirely in virtual reality, but allowing it to be done is on the roadmap. can also be edited from the desktop to facilitate the creation of more profiles.
The company plans to build a public library of script blocks and objects to speed up creators' work. This is complemented by official tutorials and community support, so anyone interested can learn to build without hacking traditional code.
When publishing, the creator maintains several prerogatives over their worldIt's helpful to know who can do what so you can collaborate more easily and avoid headaches in the medium term.
- Publish or unpublish the world whenever you see fit.
- Invite or remove collaborators to help you with the construction.
- Duplicate the world integer to create variants or backups.
- Delete the world if you want to remove it permanently.
The usual flow starts from the wrist menu: open the main menu, go to Create, and choose a template or a new project. The first time you enter an unpublished world, you're in preview mode, allowing you to explore it like any visitor would, but without editing. To build, switch to creation mode: you'll be able to manipulate shapes, adjust materials, chain scripts, and quickly test.
A practical tip is to iterate in short cycles: place blocks, test, fix, and test again. This way you ensure that the experience is fun, readable, and stable. When you're ready, publish and share it with friends; with There, you will see how feedback helps you polish mechanics and add content.
Security, moderation and privacy
As in any social space, there are rules of conduct, protection tools, and moderation processes. In Horizon, you'll find features to mute, block, or report users, in addition to the aforementioned temporary safe space that isolates you if you need a break.
To protect the integrity of interactions, Meta implemented a local recording system on the headset that is activated as a security measure in the event of reported incidents. The material is saved on the device and is only sent for moderation if there is a conduct report; once the case is resolved, the content is deleted. Additionally, when signals such as freezes or sudden silences between participants are detected, it is possible to invite a invisible observer for real-time monitoring, without explicit notifications to users during the process.
Another relevant measure is “personal space”: a configurable perimeter to keep other avatars at a certain distance, reducing unwanted invasions of the virtual body area. Combined with privacy options and reporting tools, an environment is created where You have control over who and how you interact.
Regarding identity and access, Facebook/Oculus account linking was required during earlier stages. Although your real name doesn't appear on your avatar card, it's important to review your privacy settings and understand what information you're sharing. In the early stages Not everything was translated into Spanish, so it's a good idea to take your time with the menus if you see them partially in English.
Finally, remember the figure of the Community Guides: identifiable people within the Plaza who help resolve doubts, offer basic technical support and promote a culture of respectThey're a mix of hosts and support, and can be your first allies if something doesn't go as expected.
Future and opportunities
Horizon Worlds is a piece of the metaverse puzzle that Meta imagines: persistent virtual universes, populated by avatars and with spaces created by both users and brands. Beyond the classic announcements, the logical horizon points to organic integrations in the style of other phenomena: branded outfits, themed worlds, sponsored mini-games or collective viewing of events.
For brands, designing their own world opens up possibilities: tours with clues and Easter eggs redeemable for codes, reusable items for the community, or exclusive experiences that generate conversation. For the user, all of this matters if it provides fun and utility; for the creator, they are opportunities for collaborations and responsible monetization as policies evolve.
A change in the relationship between companies and customers is also foreseen: attention is moving to immersive spaces with representatives that you can “visit” virtually, speak face-to-face (avatar to avatar) and resolve doubts on-site. It is a different form of digital presence, closer and with less cold interactions than a web chat.
In the competitive landscape, Horizon competes alongside established social VR or creation platforms like VRChat, AltspaceVR, Roblox, and Second Life. Each has its own identity and community; Meta's push could add critical mass to the sector, attract new profiles, and expand the repertoire of immersive social experiences.
There's still a long way to go, but we can already see what it brings: a solid foundation for meeting up with friends, playing quick matches, discovering interesting worlds, and, above all, getting started with your own creations. With the evolution of tools, the arrival of new features, and the drive of the community, Horizon Worlds has the makings of become one of the central squares of social VR.
If you're curious, create your avatar, walk around the Plaza, enter a featured world and play around with the creation templates; in just a few sessions you'll find the block language, wrist menus and portals familiar, and you'll be able to decide whether you prefer to be an explorer, a host or a author of your own virtual universe.
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